Saturday, 4 January 2014

Dec 29 2013 emails

Once again, Elder Bester's plan of bike to the farm was
spoiled by rain and some people didn't want to bike
in rain... which we do everyday...
and we are trying to go with a group.

And we found a different place that is open a little earlier so we switched
locations :P trying to get emailing done with because we are going to go to
some nature reserve or something, which I think is the Kuching equivalent of
nosehill

interesting things, our washing machine stopped working, so today will also be
washing all of our clothes by hand day. umm apa lagi... it was really funny to say
things in Malay and have none of you understand it :P

I asked him to explain some of the pictures

hmm lets see the pictures

so there is my rugby ball :P it is a ball used for the sport
of rugby.

there is the picture with A and Y, Y is a less active member and
A is her husband and our investigator... but that picture shows almost their entire house. for example, our
kitchen back home (as in Calgary) is probably 3-4 times the size of their
house.
the pink thing behind us in the picture is their bed which they have to put up
against the wall to sit... and they put it down when they sleep.

missionaries sleeping in cars...

that fruit is a very sour fruit that I like, but not many
people do, and we tricked Sister T into eating it... and it was wonderful
:) because she doesn't do well with food :P for example she doesn't eat durian,
so that was really funny for the rest of us :P

We went to President S's kampung (he is in the district presidency) for
christmas, and a lot of the pictures are from there, he is Bidayuh

There is the shack with the jeep on the left, that is
M's house, it really is just a wooden shack.

My christmas bike

J, He is a member in Kota Sentosa.

The Book of Mormon in Malay,

And what power outlets look like here

Well things are never really normal in either missionary
work or malaysia :P umm christmas just ended, so I feel like finally we are
starting again... but christmas holy cow that was crazy.

K so the day before christmas we went to a few members, ate
at their houses etc... but Christmas was a nightmare and a half, but it was a
really good nightmare :P

SO first of all christmas eve all the crazy chinese and
Ibans set of fireworks all night... so we get up, go to skype and eat at
brother c's house here we skyped...
Then we went to S's kampung, and I'm pretty sure most of them had never seen
white people, cause everyone wanted us to go to their house. So we ate a lot
there (I think only 2 houses... but we ate a lot...)

Then we went to Batu7 and ate at M's house... a lot..
and then to Sister K and Brother J... but we heard they were at
Sister I's... so we went there, ate, sister K then took us to her
house... feasted... then we went to Stutong... ate at Brother M's...
then J's... J's family told us that earlier in the day a bunch
of drunk guys attempted to murder their entire family... then we
went to A's, ate a little... then Brother Y's... and ate some more...

So that evening was interesting after that...

Then the next day we did it again... but not quite
as much...

and then again the next day... so I haven't spent money on
food in like a week :P

Ugg Boxing day! I miss boxing day!

We have to go back to Singapore every 90 days
at least because we come here on 90 day tourist visas... so we just border hop
for a few days and come back, but our next zone conference is on January 9th

So just to put things in perspective, there may have been missionaries here
before... but only 3 years ago were they allowed to wear name tags...
and my branch is decently new, they don't have many youth programs, there are
no active ym. The YW do have activities in our branch sometimes, but not often, and they never
have things like firesides. Malaysia is not organized like it is back home.

I asked about his washing machine

we have someone coming to fix it... like it started
smoking...
there is alot we need to get done :P

Also so a bit about my mission.

So there is a stake in Singapore, and it has 2 Zones (North
and South and the North zone has JB). There is 3 Zones in West Malaysia
(Penang/Butterworth, KL, Ipoh) Sarawak has 3 (Kuching, Sibu,
Bintulu/Miri) and Sabah has 1 zone (maybe 2... but I've never been there
so idk...) Umm in Malaysia Kuching and KL are the biggest
zones, Kuching has the most members, but not all that
educated and organized... and KL is smaller but the people are a little
more solid there.

The work is so new here :P

oh crazy story!

So we had a guy come to our door and knock and ask to learn... and he is an
israel muslim... so we got his number and stuff, but we called president and he
said we can't teach him even though he isn't malaysian...
but we are starting to think that he could possibly have been sent from the
gov't...

We did meet a new guy
to teach this week and we are meeting him tomorrow!